Martiny made the statement after hearing testimony from Louisiana State Police Audit Director Jeff Taylor, who provided revenue estimates from the American Gaming Association.

“Somewhere between 288 million and 245 million based on the 21.5% fee we charge the riverboats, that comes out to about 62 million to 52.6 million in revenue to the state, but those numbers could be high.”

The Senate panel also heard from Mississippi Gaming Commission Executive Director Allen Godfrey, who says they’ve been impressed with the rapid expansion of the activity since allowing the first bets to be placed on August 1st.

“Throughout the course of all of August and some of September, 22 of 28 of our casinos have sports books.”

Godfrey says August and September gaming revenue numbers are up 23-million relative to last year in Mississippi and it's resulted in an additional $650,000 in revenues that can be used by the state.